Alternative Title

The political conditionnality in the association agreements between the eu and the maghreb contries : contribution to the study of the legal policy of projection

Abstract

The object of this study aims to analyze the political conditionality as a legal policy of projection applied within the framework of the association agreements between the EU and the Maghreb countries (Barcelona process). It was focused on precise issue that related to ambiguities of the normative logic which underlies the European step in this area. Its analysis reveals, however, that the effectiveness of such a policy depends on the existence of a credible prospect able to give it signification, or else its implementation appears inconsistency and prolongs the debate on its legal validity (human rights clauses)This situation imposes from now on a redefinition of the partnership approach so that the Mediterranean identity of the EU's foreign relations is developed as a prospect different from accession but distinct from a simple externalisation of the EU's internal policies (cooperation in the fields of Justice and Home affairs). A clarification of the normativeness of such a policy seems an essential requirement. It goes from there the visibility of the EU's external relations at the time when it seems to be defined in normative power logic within the framework of its current borders (European neighbourhood policy).